News Story of the Day

Pope Francis faces serious tests of his leadership

AUSTRALIA, The Australian, TESS LIVINGSTONE THE AUSTRALIAN APRIL 04, 2015

Leading up to Easter, initiatives on opposite sides of the world underlined the value of effective church leadership.

In Sydney, Archbishop Anthony Fisher announced 100,000 Catholic school students and their teachers would pause at noon each school day to pray the Angelus, an ancient prayer recalling the events of the Annunciation, when Mary, visited by the angel Gabriel, said yes to becoming the mother of God.


The Awful Truth: Reflections on the Situation in Chile.

Jennifer Haselberger, 04/01/2015, Canonical Consultation and Services

There is a field of study in mathematics known as chaos theory. Students of 'chaotic' environments, which include natural systems such as weather and climate, note that even deterministic systems can produce unpredictable outcomes as a result of small differences in initial conditions.


Child sex abuse victims would get more time to sue

Kristina Torres, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 10:37 p.m. Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Victims of childhood sexual abuse would have additional time in Georgia to seek damages from their abusers, under a bill passed unanimously Tuesday by the Senate.

House Bill 17 would for the next two years extend the statute of limitations for civil suits for anyone who was sexually abused before the age of 18, allowing past victims to seek damages if they have not yet come forward.


Rome -- Vatican defends choice of Chilean bishop linked to abuser priest


India -- Sex abuse: former nun plans hunger strike

Posted on March 4, 2015, 8:50 AM, New Indian Express, UCAN India

Former nun Anita of St. Agata Convent is all set to launch an indefinite hunger strike in front of her convent at Thottakkattukara, Ernakulam.


Looking Past Cardinal Dolan's Hearty Smile

Michael Dantonio, Posted: 03/27/2015 5:27 pm EDT Updated: 03/27/2015 5:59 pm EDT, HuffingtonPost.com

In Rome, Vatican watchers like to say that the institutional Catholic Church measures time not with a clock, but with a calendar, and that its memory is as durable as the records in its archives, where Galileo's signature, preserved in the documents from his famous trial, looks like it was penned yesterday.


GA -- Ga. lawmakers consider hidden predator act

Heather Crawford, WTLV 12:17 a.m. EDT March 27, 2015

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- On a mission to get Georgia's Hidden Predator Act signed into law, a local man who says he was sexually abused as a child is speaking out. He and the bill's sponsor, Republican State Representative Jason Spencer of Woodbine, say the bill is getting a lot of push back from some powerful special interest groups.


Members of Vatican abuse commission question Francis' inaction in Chile

 |  , National Catholic Reporter

Rome

Two members of the new Vatican commission advising Pope Francis on clergy sexual abuse say they are both concerned and surprised at the pope's decision to appoint a bishop in Chile who is accused of covering up abuse, even witnessing it while he was a priest.

Speaking in brief NCR interviews Thursday in personal capacities, the commission members also said some in their group are considering traveling to Rome to speak to the pope face-to-face on the matter.


Report into Cardinal O'Brien should be published

21 March 2015 by Elena Curti, The Tablet

 

Pope Francis must hope that his swift, decisive action against Cardinal Keith O'Brien will draw the line under a scandal that done great harm to the Church in Scotland and beyond. 

The Pope's personal intervention lies behind the announcement last Friday that O'Brien is surrendering the duties and trappings of a cardinal and the repetition of his profound apologies for sexual misdemeanours.


Victims of Clerical Sex Abuse Join Forces in Latin America

By Marianela Jarroud, Saturday, March 21, 2015, IPS -- Inter Press Service

SANTIAGO, Mar 20 2015 (IPS) - Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Latin America are taking the first steps towards grouping together in order to bolster their search for justice – a struggle where they have found a new ally: filmmaking.

“Besides entertaining us, movies urge people not to forget, to memorise what is happening to us as a society,” Chilean filmmaker Matías Lira told IPS.


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